Cured
by RedDead97
Summary: Abigail's heart missed a beat. By some miracle, she was cured, but her son wasn't. Jack was still undead, his bloodshot eyes redder than the fires of hell and hungry with bloodlust. Oneshot


**AN: We all know that after John returned the mask, the undead were cured and he went back home. But what did Abigail and Jack experience during the curing (hehe that rhyms :3) and what did they go through when John was on his way back from Mexico? This was fun for me to write so I hope you enjoy it :D**

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><p>As John placed down the mask on the altar, and the mysterious Ayauhtéotl vanished, an invisible wave of cleansing swept the land, Mexico and America alike. The Undead began to change, slowly but surely, back to normal, the ones who had been infected the longest being returned to normal first.<p>

Miles away, in the house on the Beecher's Hope ranch, Abigail Marston's mind began to clear, her blind bloodlust leaving her. Her hazy vision cleared, and she no longer felt the need to rip the throats out of people. She didn't want to kill. The only thing she felt now was a biting hunger, sharp pain in her ankles and wrists and a gnawing pain in her neck. Her bloodshot eyes returned to normal and she stopped struggling against the ropes that John had bound her with. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and rejoicing the fact that she was cured of the horrible undead plague.

Through the calm in her mind, Abigail heard the insane snarling of an undead creature. Alarmed, she opened her eyes and saw Jack bound in the same fashion that she was, on the floor, struggling wildly. Abigail's heart missed a beat. By some miracle, she was cured, but her son wasn't. Jack was still undead, his bloodshot eyes redder than the fires of hell and hungry with bloodlust. His red union suit was stained at the right shoulder with his own blood from the wound on his neck, the wound that Abigail had made with her own teeth. She could still taste his blood in her mouth and dried on her chin, and it made her feel sick. Jack's wrists and ankles were bleeding from rope burn, as were Abigail's, but Jack turned towards his mother, his undead eyes focusing on her and he growled fiercely at her. Whilst they had both been undead, mother and son had mostly ignored each other, intent on escaping to find human flesh. Jack was exactly the same, but Abigail was cured; she smelled like meat to her son now. Rolling over, Jack scooted himself closer to her, sitting up in his bonds next to the bed where Abigail lay. He snapped his teeth in her direction, trying hard to bite her, to rip chunks of juicy meat from her body...

Abigail screamed. "Jack! Jack, snap out of it! Wake up! Stop that right now! Jack!" Jack's eyes were wild with hunger as he snapped at her, but suddenly, the bloodshot-red left her son's eyes and he fell to the floor. His skin lost the grey, rotten texture and his eyes closed, his struggling ceasing. Abigail's breathing slowed as she realised the danger was over.

Jack's breathing returned to normal and he opened his eyes, looking up at his mother. "Mama?"

"You're gettin' too old to call me 'Mama', boy," gasped Abigail, smiling at him, the mad, frightened look leaving her. "Are you okay?"

"I s'pose," he muttered, fidgeting in his bonds. "What happened?" He winced as the pain in his wrists, ankles and neck hit him.

"We were... Dead, son. Undead, I guess. But we're alright now, and your father should be comin' home any minute now." Abigail rested her head on the mattress, gazing at Jack.

"Well, I'm glad it's over," said Jack, his western accent giving his teenage voice a more fed-up effect. "Did Pa tie us up, too?"

"I'm sure he did," said Abigail, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "He always was a charmer."

"Why'd you bite me, Mama?" asked Jack, laying his head on the floor.

"I didn't mean to, boy. It was Uncle's fault, that damn fool." Abigail grimaced.

"Uncle," Jack murmured, a hint of deep sadness in his voice. He remembered running out to find Uncle's corpse lying in a pool of blood, smoke coming from the barrel of his father's shotgun.

"It's okay, my son. We'll be fine," Abigail smiled as she tried to reassure him. Jack sighed and closed his tired eyes.

Abigail, remembering something her son had said, said loudly, "And _me_, bite _you_? Who was it tryin' to rip chunks outta me for the last five minutes, Master. Marston?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

Jack opened his eyes, which widened at him hearing this. "You think that's bad? I spent an entire week lyin' down there," he nodded to the foot of the double bed, "tryin' to avoid you eatin' me! Honestly!"

The two bickered about their awful experience as undead captives for a while, and then fell silent. They listened to the birds outside, quietly enjoying the fact that they were no longer undead monsters, omitting unearthly groans and yearning for human meat. Eventually, the two of them fell into a peaceful sleep that they hadn't had for three weeks since John had left them tied up in the bedroom. They awoke when they heard the front door bang open and heavy footsteps thudded through the house, coming closer to the bedroom door.

"John?" Abigail's voice was weak with tiredness and hunger. John opened the bedroom door to find his exhausted, blood spattered but cured wife and son staring at him. "There you are," she continued as John walked in. "Hell, whenever trouble starts, I can pretty much guarantee you'll ride off into the sunset." She sounded annoyed, but pleased to see him.

"You feeling better?" asked John, oblivious to her sarcasm, leaning down to her.

Abigail sighed. "Yes, once that boy stopped trying to bite me, everything felt much better." John cut the ropes that bound her and she sat up on the bed, rubbing her sore wrists. "I'm starvin' though."

"Jack?" John knelt down next to his son, who was lying still and silent.

"Me?" Jack's voice was haggard and weak and he winced as his stiff body ached from being hogtied for so long. "I only felt better once that mad look left your eye," he said to his mother. "Please, dad, don't leave me here with that woman again," Jack begged.

"Excuse me?" said Abigail, offended.

"I'll try not to, son," said John, cutting his son's bonds.

"Heard that before," said Jack, groaning in pain as John helped sit him up.

Abigail stood up off the bed and threw her arms around John, hugging him tight. Jack pushed his cramped body up off the floor.

"Well, let me fix us something to eat," said Abigail into John's shoulder.

"Please don't. We've had enough dramatics for one day," said John jokingly, taking one arm from around his wife and putting it around Jack, who leaned wearily against his father, rubbing his wrists. Abigail didn't react to the comment; she and Jack just stayed close to John, feeling glad that the three of them at least had survived and were still in one piece, even if the same could not be said for Uncle.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked that. Sorry for any bad spelling or such... Please review! Thankwa :)<strong>


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